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When Brian Jones was deteroiating the Rolling Stones were on the absolute edge. It became their most creative period. Keith Richards said he wrote the song "Gimme Shelter" when Jagger was off making the movie Performance with Keiths GF Anita Pallenberg, who was previousily Brian Jones GF. Richards was afraid that Jagger was screwing her. It was also during this time that Richards began taking Heroin.

Its as if Jagger/Richards need a catalyst of a Talent like Brian Jones to feed off of. Jones gave them a descent into madness. You can hear it in many of the songs on Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed. In paticular Jumping Jack Flash, Sympathy For the Devil, Gimme Shelter and culiminating in Midnight Rambler. In Midnight Rambler Jagger switches from first person to third person narrative. Jagger always has been a control freak and during this time was full of himself, which you can see in the vids I posted. It took the direct confrontation of what real madness is at Altamont to burst his bubble. That can clearly be seen in the vid of Under My Thumb. What is telling is that it was 6 years before they played Sympathy For the Devil live again during the 1975 tour of the Americas.

Never again did the Stones creat anything with the intensity of Beggars and Let it Bleed. Some people might point to Sticky Fingers and Exiles as the pinacles of the Rolling Stones creative success. However much of the material allready existed in one form or another before those albums were recorded. Sticky Fingers reflected Richards growing dependence on Heroin and Exiles was straight ahead good ole timey RNR without much social or personal content. After that all the Stones gave us was Dancin With Mr D and Star Star.

By 1975 the Rolling Stones had largely become a Old But Goodies Show. They might as well have been the Beach Boys

There is something that I wasn't able to show in the U Tube vids and that was the Stones Free Concert in Hyde Park in July of 69. At that concert the Hells Angels UK Chapter were on the scene. If you looked at them you would think what a joke a bunch of English Poofs parading around in Leather and German Helmets. That must have given Jagger the idea that the Hells Angels SF Chapter were not much different and could be controled . After all the Gratefull Dead and Jefferson Airplane had a working relationship with them. I think it was a bit of a shock to Jagger when he realized that the Hells Angels SF were nothing like their UK breathren.